A convector heater generally has a manual control whereby the heater may be controlled. In the case of a convector heater which is mounted at the rear on a wall it has been customary to provide the manual control on the front or side of the cabinet. This is unsatisfactory aesthetically since the line of the cabinet is spoiled and the control is often visually obtrusive.
An object of the invention is to provide an improved convector heater wherein the manual controls are provided in a rebate at the rear of the cabinet.
A further object of the invention is to provide a convector heater wherein the manual operators are invisible from the front of the cabinet.
According to the invention there is provided a convector heater comprising a cabinet having a heat exchanger; means for mounting the cabinet at the rear thereof; and manual control means for controlling the heater. The cabinet, at least when it is mounted for use to a wall, has a rebate at the rear edge of the cabinet and the manual control means are situated at the rebate so as to be manually accessible and yet not readily visible from the front. Conveniently, the cabinet is of a generally rectangular box shape and the heat exchanger is electrically powered.
Preferably the mounting means is a pair of vertically-extending channel supports for fixing to the wall and for supporting the cabinet with its rear spaced from the wall. The rebate is thus defined by one of the supports and a portion of the rear of the cabinet adjacent to the edge thereof.
The convector heater preferably has a thermostat and the manual control means includes a control for the thermostat which is preferably a thumb wheel. Alternatively, however, this may comprise a sliding control. Preferably there is a window in the top or side of the cabinet whereby the setting of the manual control may be seen.
Preferably the cabinet also has a rear-wardly facing recess at one side which houses the control and a temperature sensitive bulb for the thermostat. With this arrangement the bulb is shielded from the flow of heated air and is subjected to ambient air temperature. In accordance with a preferred feature of the present invention there are provided one or more holes in the inner wall of the recess. Thus, if there is a blockage of the normal air flow by an object being placed on the normally provided grill at the top of the cabinet, for example, then hot air will be deflected through the hole and over the bulb.
This will heat the bulb to cut off the heat supply to the heat exchanger, and a thermal cut-off device can thereby be obviated.
A suitable heat exchanger is that heat exchanger described in pending United States patent application Ser. No. 762,186. In particular the electrically operated heat exchanger of that application is preferred.